How much snow can a snowshoveller shovel, if a....

This past weekend was our 4 day getaway to the cabin. The kids were staying with Bubba & Papa and we were supposed to have our first 'couples' weekend out there but our friends cancelled. We head out on Thursday, with the quad, because we were told there had been lots of snow, but really we plowed only 6 weeks ago, so how much snow could there be?


Well we weren't expecting it to be up to our knees!!

Chris lit the fire in the cabin, unloaded the quad and began plowing

while I began shovelling. I started to shovel a path to the cabin in hopes of uncovering the stairs.

But we also wanted to get the hot tub in, so I needed to shovel off the deck where the roof had slid.

It was like concrete!! I never did get it all off! I then shovelled a path down to the lake so we (and by we I mean Chris) could drill a hole to get water to fill up the hot tub. Doesn't look too inviting there does it?!

Finally I shovelled a path to the outhouse, the wood pile and dug down to the chopping block!! (There is a lot of work to having a cabin--but hey, it's all worth it!) Rex had a great time 'swimming' thru all the snow. But after 2 hours we had to put him in the cabin to dry off--he was sopping wet and shivering!! The cabin was warmed up enough to make the roof slide.... again.... onto the path..... so I gave up trying to dig out the stairs--we worked with the snow and made a ramp instead!!! We ate a late supper and were in bed by 8:30!! Had a great sleep and woke up to....snow! It snowed all that day and we accumulated about another 6 inches! So I shovelled out the path to the outhouse again!

I did get my stained glass hung up - thanks Shane and Renata--it looks BEAUTIFUL and I LOVE IT!! That evening our "cancelled couple" showed up, so that was a great surprise! (Notice how they missed all the shovelling though!) The next day we all bundled up and went for a walk/snowshoe around--it was a beautiful sunny day--and hard to stay inside!
The guys did some ice fishing, but with no luck-even with this lovely "bait-mobile":

The nights were clear which is perfect for star gazing from the hot tub! It was a great weekend and of course Sunday came too soon! We're hoping to be back out sometime during spring break, so i'm back to......15 days and counting down.....

1 more sleep!

and we're off to the cabin!! Heard there has been lots of snow there since New Year's--Kara is this right?!? We're bringing the quad just in case. Our couple cancelled on us--so it will just be Chris and I and Rex of course. It will be a little quieter, but fun none the less. It's always great to be there--no phone, TV, sports, and if the weather holds, even the trips to the outhouse won't be too bad!! .....and no this is not our outhouse!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I’ve been crafting like crazy for the past week, with Valentine’s Day coming up, I wanted to do something different for the kids. I came across this free downloadable picture. It’s hard to read on the picture, but it says ‘je t’aime’ which is ‘I love you’--I thought it was fitting with Taylor just starting her semester of Intensive French. Kalli liked them too, so I made them 4 each to give to their special friends and papa and bubba.

I continued on with making them each a special card and tucked them in with their lunch today. Taylor’s:










Kalli’s:







THEN I couldn’t resist trying out these little hearts—some felt, beads, buttons and a magnet for the back. They take about 45min each—another instant satisfaction project!

Chris asked how he was going to compete with all this 'craftiness'--i told him there was no competition because he always buys them the hilarious Hallmark cards that i am just too cheap to buy--they love those too!!

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

It's the GRADE 5 DANCE mom!!!

Sept 07 a friend of mine tells me how her son has started talking about the Grade 5 dance (which happens in February during the polar games)--who he is going with--who asked who to the dance--who 'dumped' who and is going with someone else etc.....I laughed at her having to deal with this 6 months before the actual event. Fast forward to this past September when Taylor announces at the dinner table "I FINALLY know who i'm going to the Grade 5 dance with". (To Chris this was a shock--he had no idea this event takes place or the fact that the 'planning/asking/dumping' begins 6 months in advance!!)

Well this past weekend was the Grade 5 dance/Polar games. But lets go back to last Tuesday:

Taylor and I decide to kill time at the newest second hand store while we wait for Kalli to finish her guitar lesson. I have never been in the store before so it was quite a shocker to be hit with "brand new gowns straight from New York" as we walk in the door!! Taylor's eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning!! So i had to answer the question before it was even asked "no-i'm not spending $100 on a 'gown' for the grade 5 dance". Now what i should have said was "i'm not buying you a new dress for the dance" because my statement--loosely translated--was "i won't spend $100, but i would still be willing to buy you a less expensive dress". So needless to say, we were suddenly dress shopping!! We go to Walmart and there was a choice of 4 different colors of the same 1 dress, so i suggested that i make her one instead. Off we go to the fabric section and she choses this pattern--A--which also means i have to make the shrug to abide by the school dress code:

and this fabric:

So on the way home--i'm only $20 poorer--i ask "so how many other girls are getting new dresses for the dance?" Her reply "oh i don't know, i haven't talked about it to anyone". How silly of me to assume she wants one because EVERYONE ELSE is getting one.....no.....she just wants one because hello...IT'S THE GRADE 5 DANCE!!! So this is what i was doing for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights:

So i tell her to find out from her friends who all is going to wear a dress to the dance--she reports back that her friend(s) told her that 'you just wear regular clothes'. (She is in complete disbelief of this--it's a DANCE people!!) She doesn't care--and we forge ahead--i'm so proud of her--she won't bend to the peer pressure--she's going to the dance, in dancing clothes!! So here is the final result--(again, where do my kids learn to pose like this?!?!)

So be fore warned you people with younger kids--coming to a future September--the Grade 5 Dance!!

17 more sleeps

Now that it's February I can begin my "countdown to the cabin"....17 sleeps left before we head out. This is my favorite view--i wish i was there so i could pick up that cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy the late sunrise!!

We will miss Rendevous, not in terms of "we're so sad we're going to miss it"--but we've just noticed that since building the cabin we miss a lot of Whitehorse events because we're out at the cabin! (I think the kids are more annoyed than Chris and I!!) This time we are going out without the kids, so were are going to miss Kalli at the spelling bee--now THAT i will miss, but i'm sure the grandparents will take lots of pictures....!!

The exciting part about this trip is that it will be with friends--an actual couple!! You see, it's always been 'Denise & the boys' aka--Chris's friends!! So New Years 2007, as we (Denise and the 3 boys) sat in the hot tub, i told them that it was time for them to find girlfriends because i was tired of listening to hockey talk, sledding talk and silly guy humor!! Now don't get me wrong--these guys are great--they never expected me to wait on them, they always help with clean up and meal making, but seriously, how much do we need to talk about Sidney Crosby's stats, or how your sled should be jetted at the summit??

I am happy to report that while it took one friend almost a year, he did it; he managed to meet himself a really nice girl. She likes to do all the stuff we like to do, so she's a great match!! (We tell him that we like her more than him!!!) He brought her out this past Christmas, but because we had 14 people there, they were sent to the camper due to lack of space in the cabin!! However this trip they will get the full cabin experience including the hot tub--and it will be a nice couples weekend--and i can't wait! An even bigger bonus for me, Chris is going to get MY sled working. As we discussed the repairs last night, the "jetting" came up and i said "doesn't it have the 'dial-a-jet' on it?" This is how i know that for too long it been "Denise & the boys":

1) i know what a 'dial-a-jet' acutally is and

2) how to correctly use it in a sentence!!!

So this trip, all four of us will be able to go out sledding. This is Chris last year:

I think i'll just stick to the flat stuff!!